OnGo Annual Award Winners Announced: Honoring Top Achievers in CBRS Innovation

Awards Highlight Breakthroughs in Performance, Efficiency, and User Experience Across Diverse Applications

CHICAGO, March 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- OnGo Alliance, the industry consortium that promotes the development, commercialization, and adoption of LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), announced at the OnGo Forward event in Chicago the winners of the OnGo Alliance 2024 Awards. The awards recognize innovations in real-world CBRS solutions and their business impact. 

The OnGo Annual Awards celebrate trailblazing companies that have harnessed the power of CBRS technology to unleash groundbreaking wireless services and applications, streamline operations through enhanced efficiencies, and elevate user experiences to new heights.

"It is my privilege to commend this year's OnGo Alliance Annual Award recipients for their pioneering adoption of OnGo technology," said Alan Ewing, Executive Director of the OnGo Alliance. "Their innovative approaches have demonstrated the vast opportunities that shared spectrum delivers."

The winners include:

• Excellence in a WISP OnGo Deployment: Awarded to Pente Networks (with Baicells and Local2U) for providing fixed wireless broadband connectivity to underserved areas of West Virginia, a state with minimal voice and data connectivity. The solution showcases how CBRS-based networks can supercharge the next era for WISPs to deliver fixed wireless and mobility (voice, SMS, data, and 911) in one seamless solution to the end user. The commercial deployment is expected to grow to support over a million devices with approximately 10 TB of throughput as they expand nationwide.
  
  
• Excellence in an Enterprise OnGo Private Network Deployment: Awarded to John Deere (with Multi-Tech Systems and Nokia) for private network deployment in multiple factories across Illinois and Iowa. The network takes advantage of the five CBRS PALs bought by John Deere in the 2020 FCC auction. It has allowed John Deere to automate processes, connect digital devices to the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), use video analytics to automate quality checks, operate Automated Guided Vehicles (AVGs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), and replace an extensive Wi-Fi network with fewer LTE access points. LTE and 5G are currently used at many John Deere facilities.
  
  
• Excellence in OnGo Technology Innovation: Awarded to JMA (with Sherpa 6, Druid Software, and Dell Technologies) for their innovative Open-RAN-based nomadic private 5G mobile network solution. The solution is designed to meet the scale and capacity demands of an 800-member military battalion and their troops and equipment within a single deployable unit. The solution makes existing US DoD tactical edge applications accessible by all frontline operators and connected devices to seamlessly collaborate across various military operations - from training exercises to humanitarian relief efforts to active battlefield scenarios. The introduction of an Open RAN, 5G, and OnGo solution has provided two orders of magnitude increase in bandwidth and connected devices while maintaining the range and security of legacy systems for frontline operations.
  
  
• OnGo in State, Local, and Education (SLED): Awarded to Blue Arcus (with Leax, coreNOC, and New J) for the private 4G & 5G network solution to increase Internet access, health services, and public safety in rural and low-income parts of Spokane County, Washington. The network comprises residential end-user devices (Fixed Wireless Access outdoor CPEs), CBRS routers for fire trucks and other first responder vehicles, and CBRS-connected cameras and IoT devices. The private network will help bridge the digital divide in many communities by allowing residents to download an application to their smartphone, laptop, or tablet and link to various rural hospitals and clinics, which provide private and secure patient monitoring and mobile telehealth services.
  
  
• OnGo Neutral Host Architecture/Solution: Awarded to Druid Software (with Kajeet) for deploying a CBRS-neutral host network at a large college campus. Using multiple major U.S. operators (T-Mobile and AT&T), the Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) solution ensured that the community of over 25,000 students & faculty had uninterrupted campus-wide mobile coverage and could make vital 911 calls in emergencies, bolstering campus safety. The LTE Neutral Host Network over CBRS and the implementation of a private 5G network provide a solution that improves the university experience, enhancing connectivity and reinforcing safety measures, unlocking opportunities for cutting-edge academic innovation, and expanding in-building coverage cost-effectively.
  
  
• Device Innovation: Awarded to CTS for SiteNettm, a construction site modular communication system using CBRS and Wi-Fi to improve productivity and safety at large sites. SiteNet makes building information modeling systems accessible anywhere, increasing productivity for an entire team. The system allows workers to use their iPhone or Android phones and tablets from anywhere, providing task lists, models, pictures, and records when needed. In addition to Internet access for the crew's electronic devices, SiteNet provides connectivity for various job site applications, including videoconferencing and collaboration, tool tracking, access control, and security cameras.
  
  
• Judge's Choice: Awarded to InfiniG (with Cox) for their Neutral Host as-a-Service (NHaaS) solution that extends public cellular service (of AT&T and T-Mobile subscribers) indoors using shared CBRS spectrum on a Multiple Operator Core Network (MOCN) and existing broadband infrastructure. InfiniG & Cox provided Arizona State University with a solution that offers high coverage and capacity inside its 150,000-square-foot administration building and the peace of mind of calling 911 from anywhere with their mobile phones. The university has experienced a 5x improvement in individual download speeds from previous repeater systems and a 20x capacity (bandwidth) improvement across the facility. The university is now adding private applications to the network.

"This year's OnGo Award entries show solid progress from Proof-of-Concept to profitable projects. It's exciting to see the market scaling up with solutions serving multiple locations and starting the growth wave in multiple sectors," commented Joe Madden of Mobile Experts, the Head Judge for the OnGo Awards.

The OnGo Alliance Annual Awards program is open to all members of the OnGo Alliance, and winners are selected by a panel of judges consisting of industry experts. The OnGo Alliance board and its members are uninvolved in the judging process. This year's panel of judges was led by Joe Madden, Founder and Chief Analyst at Mobile Experts. He was joined by Ashish Jain, CEO at KAIROS Pulse and Chief Editor at PrivateLTEand5G; Monica Paolini, Principal at Senza Fili; and Peter Murray, Executive Director at Dense Networks.

About OnGo Alliance:

The OnGo Alliance is an industry consortium that promotes developing, commercializing, and adopting LTE and 5G solutions for the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and evangelizes shared spectrum globally. Formerly the CBRS Alliance, this 130+ member group accelerates the buildout of effective and efficient CBRS networks using 4G and 5G solutions. There are over 365,000 CBRS Access Points across the US currently broadcasting wireless signals on the CBRS spectrum via private and fixed wireless networks, spanning various sectors, including enterprise IT, industrial IoT, smart cities, rural broadband, transportation, hospitality, retail, and real estate. The Alliance has also established a product certification program for OnGo equipment in the CBRS band, ensuring multi-vendor interoperability.

To learn more about the OnGo Alliance, please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org
For more information on the awards, go to https://ongoawards.org

OnGo Alliance and the OnGo logo are trademarks of OnGo Alliance.

SOURCE OnGo Alliance